Jan-Case
Caol Ila Distillers Edition
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
October 15, 2020 (edited February 14, 2021)
Nose: great signature Caol Ila peat, a little subdued but not the less delicious with a light sulfur note. Also red fruits and berries, maple syrup, kiwi, vanilla milkshake, taco shells, bright apples.
Palate: first a nice sourness like unripe grapes, then a slight briny note with nice barbecue smoke and salt which gets bid by bid embraced by a smooth creamy sweetness like buttered & sugar glazed whole grain crackers.
The finish is warming and savory peaty with strawberry and caramel.
Great whisky.
Create Account
or
Sign in
to comment on this review
Dang, if you'd take it of Talisker 18 and it's neck-and-neck with HP 18, I need to put this on my list @jonwilkinson7309 ! If only travel were possible again. I'll be picking this up in 2022, I guess
@Jan-Case looking forward to reading your follow-up review whenever it's ready! I'll be interested to find out how it oxidized.
@ContemplativeFox. I miss picking up a good bottle or two when I'm traveling! But then, I miss traveling in general. I'm overdue for a bottle of the 18. I had a sample of it about a year ago, and I thought it was a spectacular. To put it in perspective, I'd definitely take it over the wonderful Talisker 18, and I'd have to try it side-by-side with one of my all time favorites, Highland Park 18, to decide a favorite. Is it worth more than 2x the Distiller's Edition? Very hard to say.
@ContemplativeFox the nose is nice and interesting for sure. I tend to highlight the unusual things but that isn’t always easy. I plan on giving it another go in a few months which might end up having some different results. What I also noticed is that I tend to have different experiences with aromas and flavors than others so. I guess that is mainly because with my less then 2 years drinking whisky I don’t have the experience and also as a vegan I taste thing differently while also not knowing a lot of tastes generally (anymore). If I had to put a (European) price on this bottle I would be in the 65 - 70 € range.
So I'm hearing that I should buy a bottle and I'm seeing that it's only like $50...in Europe :( I almost bought a bottle of CI 18 for something like $120 and that seems to be about as well regarded, so $50 sounds like a steal :D I don't see this anywhere in the US though, so I guess I'd better plan to pick it up on that trip to Europe I'll be taking when travel is a thing again in, uh, 2068? @jonwilkinson7309
@ContemplativeFox @Jan-Case. I tried this once at a whisky bar (in Reykjavik, of all places), and found it to be interesting and complex...definitely a whisky I'd need to try multiple times to really get my head around.
That is one of the strangest sounding noses I've ever read.